Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Primacy of cultureDaily PioneerMistakes of the Raj have returned to haunt Britain in the form of Islamic extremism. Great Britain, mother of Western colonialism whose footprints still ...

The British Prime Minister’s confession that multiculturalism has ‘failed’ vindicates the Hindu concept of Hindutva, which asserts that India’s natal, primordial and living civilisation must determine her national character. India has long suffered at the hands of Islamic and British-Christian invaders, and continues to be stifled by an elite comprising soulless atheist-Marxists, hostile minorities, and fellow travellers, all of whom advance the power of the two millenarian faiths.

India’s sanatana dharma is a religion and living civilisation, inspired by the ideal of universal welfare of all beings, human and non-human. Dharma is not fixed in time or space, and eternally renews itself in response to the Age; it is always contemporary … Dharma respects all faiths, for it is not given to any human agency to arbitrate a final truth for mankind. Hindus believe the Vedas are the ‘revealed’ truth ‘heard’ by the Vedic rishis (Sruti). Yet that is no reason to impose them on the world by human regents. Hence, despite the belief in One Supreme Being (Parabrahma), non-monotheism is the hallmark of all Indic traditions. Our polity and innate secularism flow from this understanding; Aristotle said centuries ago that Hindus were the only people to have successfully made dharma the basis of their public life.

This generous tradition made India the perfect refuge for all — the Parsi community fleeing persecution in Persia; the Dalai Lama and his followers; the now controversial Karmapa; the Bahai community ... Christians and Muslims established beachheads here centuries ago; Jews believe they came after the destruction of the Second Temple of Solomon in AD 70. Our political culture is equally accommodative — the first cabinet of independent India included Maulana Azad and B R Ambedkar.

Mother India regards her minorities as strands in a multi-strand civilisation, who interact with each other at will. Traditionally, they automatically positioned themselves around the core culture based on her ancient and native traditions. They were not accorded inferior status, but they did not determine the nation’s identity and ethos.and more »